I.J. Ready and Colin Borchert hit free throws down the stretch Saturday to help Mississippi State pull away late with a 76-72 win over Ole Miss.More >>

I.J. Ready and Colin Borchert hit free throws down the stretch Saturday to help Mississippi State pull away late with a 76-72 win over Ole Miss.More >>

LAS VEGAS (RNN) – The Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated the South Florida Bulls in the third round of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic Sunday night, winning 71-66.

The victory was the fourth-straight win for the Bulldogs (9-2).

MSU led going into halftime 38-35 after trailing early on in the first half. The Bulldogs could not stop a surging Bulls team (8-3) from catching up and taking a 45-44 lead within five minutes of the second half.

The game continued to go back and forth until the last six minutes, when the Bulldogs broke a 58-58 tie.

The Bulldogs are now 3-0 against USF all-time; the two teams last met in 1974.

Guard Fred Thomas was MSU's leading scorer with 14 points off the bench. The Bulldogs bench outscored the Bulls bench 26-9 in the game. Forward Colin Borchert scored 11 points and five rebounds, while both forward Gavin Ware and guard Craig Sword scored 10 points each.

MSU outrebounded USF 32-31, but only shot 45.5 percent from field goal range and 35.7 percent from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs will play UNLV in the tournament championship at 10:30 p.m. on Monday. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.